Sulphur Business Owner Sentenced to Prison for Filing False Income Tax Returns

Published, June 10, 2021

From the Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Louisiana – Sulphur, LA. – Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that Alfredo Franco, 54, of Sulphur, Louisiana, was sentenced today by United States District Judge James D. Cain to 1 year and 1 day in prison, followed by 1 year of supervised release, on federal tax fraud charges. Franco was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $961,655.

Franco was charged in a Bill of Information with three counts of making and subscribing a false return, statement, or other document. On February 23, 2021, Franco pleaded guilty to one count in the Bill of Information. According to information presented in court at the hearing, Franco was self-employed and owned a business in the Calcasieu Parish area. Franco admitted to submitting and electronically filing false and fraudulent U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns on behalf of his himself and his wife for the tax years 2015, 2016, and 2017. He purposefully omitted approximately $702,834 in gross receipts for the tax year 2015, $1,270,449 in gross receipts for the tax year 2016, and $696,763 in gross receipts for the tax year 2017, from Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business), where gross receipts are listed. The omission of this income resulted in an additional tax liability of $961,655.

The IRS conducted the investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly P. Uebinger prosecuted the case.